ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601100126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS
SOURCE: Associated Press
DEFENSIVE BACK Eugene Daniel is the last player left from the 1984 Colts team, the first to play in Indianapolis.
Eugene Daniel is the last survivor of the first Colts team to play in Indianapolis after the franchise moved from Baltimore in 1984. There have been just three winning seasons and one lonely playoff loss.
Now he finds himself in the AFC championship game. And he's savoring every minute of it.
``This is for the whole team. You never know when you're going to get back here,'' said Daniel, a 12-year veteran who was drafted out of LSU in 1984, the year the Colts moved to Indianapolis. ``This whole thing, this whole January, has to be bigger than me.''
Daniel has started (175) and played in more games (182) than any other defensive back in club history. However, an ailing knee has limited his playing time, and he's been used as a reserve in the Colts' playoff victories over San Diego and Kansas City.
He had one of three interceptions against Steve Bono in Sunday's 10-7 victory over the Chiefs that put the Colts in the AFC championship game against Pittsburgh.
``We were going to start Eugene against San Diego, but he came up and told us that he just couldn't go the entire game and that the team would be better off with Ashley Ambrose starting,'' Colts coach Ted Marchibroda said.
``That wasn't difficult at all,'' Daniel said. ``I played with the same injury in the New England game. I felt I played OK, but being fully healthy would have been a whole lot better. I tore a rotator cuff in my left shoulder and the knee had fluid in it.
``Ashley had been playing great the last couple of weeks. He was ready to play and played good in practice the whole week. The most important thing was to win, and the team did.''
The Colts, who clinched a playoff berth in their final game against the Patriots, are playing in January for the first time since 1972. A victory over the Steelers would put them in the Super Bowl for the first time since they won it in 1971.
Ambrose, who didn't start a game during the regular season and had only 12 starts in his four years, made five solo tackles and assisted on three others while breaking up four passes at San Diego. Two of the passes broken up resulted in interceptions. He also had an interception at Kansas City.
``He's playing so well, that I'm almost enjoying being on the sideline,'' Daniel said. ``It seems like everybody is just pulling it all together and coming up with the plays. Everything is just going great.''
Daniel, who set a club record when he returned an interception 97 yards for a TD against the New York Jets, picked off Bono's pass at the Indianapolis 40 on the next-to-last possession by the Chiefs.
Daniel sees more character on this Indianapolis team than the ones that made losing a habit for much of his career.
``We're still playing because we just refuse to stop fighting,'' he said. ``And a different guy has been coming up with big plays each week.''
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Indianapolis Colts defensive backs Ashley Ambroseby CNB(left) and Eugene Daniel celebrate their 10-7 AFC playoff victory
over Kansas City on Sunday. Daniel has been with the Colts since
1984. color.